Chapter 21:
Cages of Stone and Glass
The field at the foot of Mount Canterlot had been cleared of snow. What it normally was used for was impossible to tell. It was surrounded by woods and there was no line of sight to Canterlot City. No path led to it. Twilight wondered for a moment if the field actually was some kind of secret testing range.
Fifteen upturned crates had been placed in a row extending from the middle of the field to its edge, each crate about a stone’s throw apart. A bottle containing a sample of rock from the fallen mountain stood on each crate.
Twilight surveyed the scene and nodded her approval. She could see that she and her friends were supposed to stand in the middle of the field and use their Elements to create a massive area spell. The crates and bottles were supposed to gauge the spell’s effects at varying distances from the center.
“Good morning, Twi. Sleep well?”
She turned towards Applejack’s voice and saw her friends approaching beneath the trees behind her. They were smiling at her. Granted, some smiles were more nervous than others but still. Last night’s party had done wonders to clear the air between them. She had reassured them that they had nothing to fear. They’d had the first genuine fun, all together, in over a week (but it had felt like months).
Fluttershy and Applejack had talked to her for a long time. Both were still marked by their respective troubles but they still managed to relax and eventually had fun.
Pinkie Pie had been amazingly skittish around Twilight. Eventually Twilight had enough and caught Pinkie in her magic, tickling her until she shrieked with laughter. That seemed to break the ice between them and Pinkie apologised for avoiding Twilight; she should know better.
Even Rainbow Dash had admitted she was viewing Twilight differently. For her the change was quite obvious since she’d been away from Canterlot. Unlike the others she was actually impressed. It’s like you radiate coolness and awesomeness, she’d said.
Twilight realised she’d looked all of her friends in the eye except for Rarity. To her chagrin she had to force herself to meet the fashionista’s gaze. Rarity didn’t seem to notice. They hadn’t spoken much last night.
“I slept great, Applejack. I feel so much better after last night.”
“Good to hear. So, how do we do this?”
“Marble Chalice should be here any moment now to explain things.”
The professor did appear only a moment later, accompanied by the princesses. Chalice greeted them enthusiastically while Celestia and Luna studied them, locking their gaze on Twilight. Chalice took a deep breath and started talking.
“Hello, Twilight, hello everypony. Thank you for coming. This will not take long; we merely need to see how the alien matter reacts to your combined Elements. Hopefully it will purge the chaotic energy from the matter, allowing you to use the Elements to clear huge areas of Equestria from the poisonous ash. I just need you to don your necklaces and tiara, go stand in the middle of the field at the end of the line of crates and activate the Elements. Simple as that. Princess Celestia will now hand you your Elements. Any questions?”
They formed a line. Celestia hovered the coffer with the Elements, giving each pony their jewelry. Twilight was after Pinkie Pie and Applejack, and Celestia hesitated and frowned just as she was about to lower the tiara on Twilight’s head.
“What’s wrong, Princess?”
Celestia looked into Twilight’s eyes for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, before shaking her mane and blinking. She lowered the tiara so it touched Twilight’s head. Twilight felt a slight tingle emanating from it.
“Nothing, Twilight. I must be a bit worn out from all the stress.”
“Cheer up. As long as everything goes as we hoped we’ll soon have a solution to this mess.”
Celestia smiled at Twilight before moving on and giving Fluttershy her necklace.
Once everypony had their Elements they walked out to their spot near the first crate, where they faced each other. Eventually Twilight found that all of her friends were looking at her expectantly. She cleared her throat.
“All right girls, this is maybe a bit different than what we’ve tried earlier since we don’t have a target. This should still work though. Just focus on your elements. Open your hearts to each other.”
Rainbow Dash nodded and put her hoof forward so it hovered in the air in the middle of their circle. She looked at her friends.
“Let’s do this, girls. All together.”
Each laid a hoof forward, touching Rainbow Dash’s and each other’s hooves. Then they closed their eyes and sought their focus.
Twilight smiled. To think of her friends brought her such warmth. They truly empowered her in a most literal sense, so it was no mystery to her that the Elements used their friendship to power their grandest spells. She breathed deeply, a happy sigh, as she thought about how close they were and felt the magic tingle from the tiara become a torrent of energy that flowed through her every fiber...
A white light enveloped the six ponies and merged into a single globe that suddenly expanded rapidly, accompanied by a thunderclap. Marble Chalice and the princesses shielded their eyes instinctively, turning partially away, before blinking and surveying the field again.
The bottles exploded in blue-black fire, consuming the crates as well.
Marble Chalice sighed and turned to the princesses.
“I’m sorry, your highnesses, but it appears that we can’t look to the Elements for an answer to our current problems.”
“That’s all right, Professor Chalice. We had to—”
An anguished scream was heard from the field.
“Twilight!”
Princess Celestia’s head snapped to the Element Bearers. They were surrounding Twilight, who stood unmoving. Celestia unfolded her wings and covered the distance with two powerful wingbeats. She landed next to the six ponies and met Applejack’s panicked and pleading gaze before her eyes came to rest on Twilight.
Twilight had been turned to stone.
Celestia felt as if her gut had been kicked. She wobbled and collapsed, still staring incredulously at the statue of her faithful apprentice.
“No. No...”
She felt the impact through the ground of her sister landing beside her. After a short moment she felt a wing drape over her back.
“Dearest sister, we must accept the facts and deal with them.”
Celestia nodded mutely even as tears formed in her eyes. She gazed at the remaining five Element Bearers through her blurry vision. They were looking back at her with expressions of fear, worry and anxiety. She sniffed.
“My little ponies... I am sorry. Harmony has passed judgement on Twilight Sparkle. The Element Bearer of Magic has slipped into the shadows. I... I sensed something different about her, but I didn’t dare suspect she had darkness growing in her heart. I knew she was taking risks – I cannot help feeling that this is partially my fault – but I hoped for the best. Now it’s too late.”
Applejack stomped so hard into the ground that the earth flew.
“Too late my hoof! You can’t just tell me that we’re going to leave her like this!”
Luna locked her eyes with Applejack.
“Calm yourself. There is indeed still hope that we can rescue Twilight and pull her from the shadows. But we need to be very prepared before attempting to do so: she’s one of the most talented and powerful unicorns in Equestria. If she reacts poorly, or if we fail, we’ll be in great danger.”
Celestia sobbed lightly and nodded.
“Luna is right. My little ponies, we have too much to deal with already. We cannot risk having to deal with an out-of-control Twilight right now.”
Applejack backed away a bit, her expression aghast.
“What – what are you saying?”
“Applejack, please be assured that we will try to help Twilight. We will bring her back from stone. But... We can’t do it now.”
Celestia rose unsteadily and looked at the five grieving friends.
“Now that we know we can’t use your Elements together we must find another solution to bring Equestria out of this crisis. In the meanwhile, your individual Elements are still the only good cure we have for severe ash poisoning... I’m afraid you are going to be very busy. I beg of you: please think of Equestria. We need you.”
There was no objection. Five ponies simply leaned against each other for comfort as they cried.
~~~~~
Welder opened his eyes and gasped, moaning with terror. For a moment he thought he was burning again, but he saw no flames. He managed to still his panic and realised that what he felt was the entirety of his body being asleep. He groaned and tried to move his arms and legs. They reacted, but very sluggishly, and he couldn’t move his arms past his elbows, making his hands drag over his chest as he thrashed and flailed.
Ever so slowly the feeling of pins and needles disappeared and some strength returned to his limbs. He started paying some attention to his surroundings. He was apparently lying horizontally, looking up at a brilliant point of light above him. He turned his head to the side and saw a wall of gray stone right next to him. In the other direction was a similar wall, just out of arm’s reach.
The surface underneath him felt cold and smooth. He pushed himself up a bit and put his shoulder underneath him so he could look down. He was apparently lying on a slab of marble. Not only the slab was cold, he realised. The air was pretty cold too. The shivers he was beginning to notice weren’t only from his weakened state.
He pushed against the slab with his arm and managed to sit up. He groaned as the small move set off fireworks in his head. After a while they cleared and he looked around again. He was in a small room, barely bigger than the slab he’d been lying on. The walls looked like granite rather than cement, but there were no seams, not even in the corners. He assumed it was cement after all, simply painted gray. The light overhead was too brilliant to see what was causing it, but he guessed it was a lamp. To his left was a low doorway. In fact, it was so low he’d have to duck through it even though he was of average height. His feet told him that the floor was more cold stone.
“Uhhh...”
He became aware of the dryness of his mouth and throat. He was parched.
“Hhhello? Anybody there?”
After a moment he heard a cry answer him. It was unlike any sound he could remember hearing, but it definitely came from some kind of throat. It had weird inflection and was punctuated by strange and unfamiliar consonants, and sounded muffled and distorted, but it was definitely something trying to speak.
He looked at the darkness beyond the doorway. The sound had come from out there. He guessed it would be Twilight Sparkle, the ‘pony’ that had talked to him in his dreams or whatever. He worked the muscles of his legs for a moment and then tried standing up. He laid a hand on the wall opposite him and slowly shifted more of his weight onto his feet. Eventually he was standing. He realised the ceiling wasn’t very high up: he’d hit his head if he tried to jump. He looked back to the light for a moment and put his hand in front of him to shield his eyes from most of the glare, but no matter how he squinted and moved his hand he couldn’t see any light fixture, just that incandescent point of light.
He shook his head and turned it away, letting his hand fall against his hip. The impact of hand against flesh made him aware that he was naked. He looked around, but there was no sign of any clothes. So... to go out and face an unfamiliar world buck naked, or to stay inside this combination of broom closet and mausoleum for ever?
He crouched through the doorway. There was no threshold; the same stone floor continued uninterrupted. He straightened up and looked around. He was standing in a shaft of light coming from directly above. The light didn’t illuminate much, though; the stone floor was smooth in all directions out to the end of the light and then there was only darkness. He turned around and inspected the structure he’d been in. It was a seamless box of gray stone with a hole cut out for the doorway. He saw a basin off to one side of it though. He walked over to it and saw that it was filled with what appeared to be clear water. Next to that was another basin, empty this time, with a hole in the bottom. And next to that lay what appeared to be his clothes, neatly folded.
The basins were quite low. They were lower than what he’d comfortably be able to sit on. He knelt down by the water basin and cupped a hand in the clear liquid, bringing it to his mouth and slurping it down. It felt wonderfully refreshing. After drinking a couple more handfuls he wiped his mouth with his arm and moved over to his clothes. He picked up a t-shirt... but it felt wrong. He ran his fingers over the material. It should have been cotton, soft and pliable, but this fabric was quite stiff.
Nevertheless. It was scratchy but it stretched enough to function, and it fit. His jeans were of the same fabric even though they looked like they always had. He put them on. No sign of boxers, briefs or jacket.
A knocking sound made him start and spin around.
He saw three ponies in front of him, though that name still felt wrong. One had a hoof up in the air and it took a moment for Welder to realise that it had in fact knocked on a sheet of glass that stretched between them. He had failed to notice it previously. None of the three looked familiar. In fact, two of them were distinctly larger than what he’d experienced in his dreams. The ‘normal sized’ one had a green coat, slightly darker than mint, and light gray mane. The two big ones had pearl and dark blue coats respectively, and their manes... He couldn’t discern their manes properly. They seemed to be waving about like they were underwater and being moved by ocean currents.
“Hello?”
The small one opened its mouth and spoke to him. Now that he saw them he could vaguely associate the sound to a horse whinnying, but the comparison was tenuous at best. He didn’t understand a word.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand you... Do you understand me? Please nod if you do.”
He waited for a moment, watching the trio. The large white one was in the center, and she – Welder thought it looked like a she – bent down and spoke to the small green one. The green one said something back and then her horn suddenly glowed with a green outline, making Welder gasp. Three objects were floating up to the glass from behind the trio. They were white rectangles with black markings on them. The green pony looked up at them and then rearranged them into a vertical row.
Welder stepped closer and peered at the objects. He realised there was text – recognizable text – on them. Each carried a single word: ‘can’, ‘you’ and ‘breathe’. The letters were large, faithful copies of printed type. Welder was struck by a memory. Twilight had appeared in front of him and asked to study some samples of writing from his world, so he’d thought them back to his apartment and given her a dictionary. She’d been so excited she’d danced a little four-legged jig before settling down to read, all the while easily answering his questions.
Now that he thought about it, she had mentioned her rulers. He looked back at the trio. Yes, the two big ones matched the description she’d given. He gulped.
“Y... yes. I can breathe. Where is Twilight Sparkle? I thought she’d be here when I woke up.”
They didn’t answer. Instead, the smallest one raised a hoof and pointed it to the side. He turned and looked.
The outside wall of his little house opposite the doorway was now visible and it was covered by shelves containing neat stacks of white plaques like the three pressed up against the glass by the green pony’s magic. He understood and walked over to the shelves. Sure enough, there were hundreds of what felt like thin sheets of wood, each carrying a different word. Most were stacked into very large piles but two lay separate: the words ‘yes’ and ‘no’ were painted on them. He picked up the ‘yes’ and inspected it. The other side had large markings that he was unfamiliar with, but he assumed it was the Equestrian equivalent to ‘yes’. He walked up to the glass and pressed the sheet against it so that the alien text was visible to the ponies.
They nodded at him and started talking to each other animatedly. Welder noted that the glass had to be quite thick. It was also slightly uneven and distorted the view in gentle waves, though not enough to be a problem. He walked over to the shelves again and looked through the pile of words. He noticed that one pile of wooden sheets was larger and inspected it. He nodded when his suspicion was proved correct, shuffled through it and chose one sheet as well as one from another pile. He brought both back to the glass and presented them so the ponies could read them.
‘Where’, ‘Twilight Sparkle’.
The tall white one, Princess Celery or something like that, staggered backwards. The other two seemed to turn and speak to her with some concern. Welder realised the white one’s eyes were moistening. He’d made the ruler of this world, a very powerful being if Twilight was to be believed, cry. Great start.
The white princess straightened and said something to Welder before turning and walking away. The other two also glanced at him before departing. He was left staring at them, slack-jawed, mystified and utterly alone.